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Sundown Riders #5
Whiskey River
The war is over, but the fight has just begun in this western in Ralph Compton's USA Today bestselling series.
They came back from the war, and their land was gone. The Texas soil they’d nourished with years of backbreaking work had been snatched away. And in a moment of fury at this Yankee plunder, Mark Rogers and Bill Harder cut down a pair of tax collectors…and wound up behind bars in Fort Worth.
But then the former Confederate soldiers are offered a they can face their sentences—or infiltrate a gang of whiskey runners who’ve been evading the law between St. Louis and Fort Smith. If they succeed, they’ll gain their freedom…and their confiscated land.
But when they meet up with Wolf Estrello and his fellow bandits, they just might wish they’d taken their chances with the firing squad…
More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
They came back from the war, and their land was gone. The Texas soil they’d nourished with years of backbreaking work had been snatched away. And in a moment of fury at this Yankee plunder, Mark Rogers and Bill Harder cut down a pair of tax collectors…and wound up behind bars in Fort Worth.
But then the former Confederate soldiers are offered a they can face their sentences—or infiltrate a gang of whiskey runners who’ve been evading the law between St. Louis and Fort Smith. If they succeed, they’ll gain their freedom…and their confiscated land.
But when they meet up with Wolf Estrello and his fellow bandits, they just might wish they’d taken their chances with the firing squad…
More Than Six Million Ralph Compton Books In Print!
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
21 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Ralph Compton
247 books86 followersRalph Compton (April 11, 1934—September 16, 1998) was an American writer of western fiction.
A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.
Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphc...
A native of St. Clair County, Alabama, Compton began his writing career with a notable work, The Goodnight Trail, which was chosen as a finalist for the Western Writers of America "Medicine Pipe Bearer Award" bestowed upon the "Best Debut Novel". He was also the author of the Sundown Rider series and the Border Empire series. In the last decade of his life, he authored more than two dozen novels, some of which made it onto the USA Today bestseller list for fiction.
Ralph Compton died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 64. Since his passing, Signet Books has continued the author's legacy, releasing new novels, written by authors such as Joseph A. West and David Robbins, under Compton's byline.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ralphc...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 9, 2020
Wanted to read a Western, noticed that Berkley republished Ralph Compton's 'Whiskey River', it's been a while since I read one of his books and plucked this one out of my Library.
With 'Whiskey River', it's set in Texas post Civil War and Indian Territory. Mark Rogers and Bill Harder come home from the war only to learn they lost there spreads, they end up killing the men on their land and end up being offered a deal verse being hung.
Mark and Bill end up going to Indian Territory hoping to end up obtaining teamster jobs with Wolf Estrello's gang, who are running whiskey from St. Louis to trade in the territory to renegade Indians led by Broken Nose.
Along the way they meet naked twin sisters, they get jobs with the gang, Estrello kills the gangster who supplies the whiskey, they'll battle other outlaws and to know more you'll have to read 'Whiskey River'. It's an entertaining read, written in the similar style of two legends being Jory Sherman and Elmer Kelton, yet it stands on it's own and well worth if you haven't yet too give Ralph Compton a try.
Especially with his books being released by Berkley right now. Also glad to see that they are bring back the Ralph Compton Western books. Like the Johnstone books, it's done through an agreement with his estate and the publisher, but with his they give writing credit to the author, which is a good thing, great to discover a new author and weed out ones writing wise that you don't like.
With 'Whiskey River', it's set in Texas post Civil War and Indian Territory. Mark Rogers and Bill Harder come home from the war only to learn they lost there spreads, they end up killing the men on their land and end up being offered a deal verse being hung.
Mark and Bill end up going to Indian Territory hoping to end up obtaining teamster jobs with Wolf Estrello's gang, who are running whiskey from St. Louis to trade in the territory to renegade Indians led by Broken Nose.
Along the way they meet naked twin sisters, they get jobs with the gang, Estrello kills the gangster who supplies the whiskey, they'll battle other outlaws and to know more you'll have to read 'Whiskey River'. It's an entertaining read, written in the similar style of two legends being Jory Sherman and Elmer Kelton, yet it stands on it's own and well worth if you haven't yet too give Ralph Compton a try.
Especially with his books being released by Berkley right now. Also glad to see that they are bring back the Ralph Compton Western books. Like the Johnstone books, it's done through an agreement with his estate and the publisher, but with his they give writing credit to the author, which is a good thing, great to discover a new author and weed out ones writing wise that you don't like.
December 16, 2021
A nice story. Two return from the Civil War and kill 2 carpetbaggers. Army gives them a chance for a new life by going undercover after a group selling whiskey to the Indians. They infiltrate the organization and gather helpful information. Fighting the group they infiltrated, other gangs and several groups of Indians. It is rather predictable and for this reason, I rated it a 3.
July 10, 2021
Interesting enough story to keep me entertained. Are some parts of it very unrealistic, like riding a horse 120 plus miles in one day.
April 9, 2022
A fun story. A lot of different groups mixed in and that kept me busy remembering who was who. A quick and interesting read. Fun.
July 29, 2013
Learned interesting facts about the old west & what a hard life it was.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews